


Going Away To War

by bordering_on_hostility



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fitness for military service, Mention of war wound, Military AU, Self-Blame, Unlikely trigger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-25
Updated: 2015-10-25
Packaged: 2018-04-28 01:14:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5072293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bordering_on_hostility/pseuds/bordering_on_hostility
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tumblr prompt from anon: "Going away to war au"</p>
<p>Root copes badly. Shaw won't let her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Going Away To War

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?”

Root wasn’t startled by Shaw’s voice coming from behind her back, greatly announced by the sound of her crutches on the metal floor of the hallway

“You shouldn’t be out of bed” Root answered calmly, avoiding both the question and Shaw’s look as she stuffed a flash grenade in the duffle bag that laid on the desk in front of her

“It’s been two months, I can fucking walk” Shaw hissed murderously, taking short breaths that betrayed her physical distress ”What the hell are you doing, I thought nerds like you would stick with tech support” 

“New orders” Root sighed and stretched to pick the rifle from her cot, making room for it in the bag ”General Dawkin’s dead, I’ve been reassigned” 

“You’re not going to war, Root”

She felt her heart constrict and nearly stopped in her tracks before zipping the bag close. Sameen Shaw was deadly serious and Root could feel her dark eyes drilling a hole in the back of her head as they stared from the threshold of her cubicle

“It’s not like I was sent to the front line” Root observed quietly, stepping away from her desk to look at it and check she wasn’t leaving something out “I’ll just make sure our ammunition train gets here safe and sound” _and the food, and the meds that keep you alive_ she thought but didn’t say 

“Not under my watch, you’re not” Shaw warned with a firm tone of voice

Two months ago Root would have grinned and pulled out a witty retort, some stupid line on the other woman giving away that she cared about her, maybe even some lame pun to get on her nerves. But a lot of things had changed two months ago and she was determined not to give in to whatever Shaw would try to make her stay

“It’s the most dangerous task of your unit” Shaw added sourly and Root couldn’t keep herself from chuckling

“What would you rather I did, Shaw?” Root asked not without humor. She never laid eyes on the woman in front of her as she moved towards her locker, still having trouble looking at Shaw without feeling like someone was punching her in the gut

“What you’ve always done” Shaw answered as it were the most obvious thing in the world “Tech support” she clarified “From here”

“Sure” Root commented bitterly and started rummaging through her locker. She had never mentioned no one has assigned her tasks that went beyond dull review of security videotapes since the accident, had she? ”How did that work out for you?” 

“Oh come on, Root, cut it out” Shaw scolded, anger slipping into her voice “You can’t keep blaming yourself, it’s ridiculous”

“Is it?” Root asked cynically as she drew her dogtags from the locker, shut it close and moved back to her desk “How are your legs?” 

“You’re gonna get yourself killed” Shaw didn’t take the bait and Root wondered when the scary badass operative she knew had become this person. So open and vulnerable and **caring**. 

“I’m leaving the day after tomorrow” Root announced flatly, lifting the duffle bag from the desk and hefting it over one shoulder “I have to return this before six” she added as she turned around and headed for the door

“I’m not letting you go like this” Shaw asserted, deadly calm, and didn’t move from the threshold, lifting up her head to glare more efficiently at her

Root stopped less than a meter away from Shaw and finally returned her look. There was a fierce determination in the tiny woman’s eyes and she almost shivered under the weight of her stare. Still, the more she stared back at her, the more she convinced herself that she was doing the right thing

“Move aside” Root swallowed thickly when her demand came out more like a plea, averting her look and fixing it on the wall right behind Shaw

Shaw didn’t move. She inhaled sharply through her nose, clenched her jaw, tighten her grip on the crutches she couldn’t stand without, but didn’t move. They stood like that for an entire minute, although Root would have swore was ages, before Shaw sighed deeply, announcing her defeat. She took a laborious step back, shuffling her feet on the floor and stopped again, leaving hardly enough space for Root to slip away. And that’s exactly what she did, the sound of her steps echoing deafeningly loud as she stalked out

-

The next day Root woke up at the sound of someone knocking on her door. She shot a look at the clock hanging above the door and realized it was just ten minutes before her alarm. Feeling like shit and not giving a damn about the way she looked, she surged from her bed and went for the door as her early disturber knocked harder

She stepped to the side and stood to attention as soon as she realized she had opened her door to no less than her Major

“Good morning, sir”

She hated it. The discipline, the obedience, sir here, sergeant there, but she didn’t want to fuck it all up before even starting, so she had decided to suck it up and behave

“At ease” the man didn’t bother looking at her as he stepped in her cubicle “You have already ruined my morning and I don’t like you one bit, so I’ll be quick” nor he turned to face her as he offered her the dossier he was carrying

She took it with shaky hands, still trying to figure out what was going on, which was proving extremely difficult since she hadn’t even washed her face yet

“As you were retasked, your medical record was subjected to review” the major started scrutinizing her room as if he expected a pixie to jump out of nowhere any minute “And it led to a very interesting discovery”

Root was too absorbed in her reading to care though. It was happening too fast. What she read made her blood run cold in her veins and she blinked several times as if it’d make it all disappear

“According to your MET test and the Basic Rating System you were rated a code 7020, aka Cardiomyopathy, as in a heart condition with deterioration of the heart muscle and its functioning”

_It cannot be_ she thought as she stared blankly at the pages in front of her, unsteady fingers almost making them slip away and fall onto the floor. _I made sure they’d never get these_

“According to the VASRD principles, you were given a 10% rating which means tech support maybe can make use of you somehow, but I definitely can’t” he finally turned to shoot her a contemptuous glare “Until officially retasked, you are, therefore, unfit for duty”

Root didn’t have the means to dispute the evidence as the dossier confirmed every word he’d just said, so she could only watch as the Major turned his back on her and left without another word

Her brain didn’t immediately processed what had happened, still too numb to figure it out by itself, but then a series of familiar sounds caught her attention and it hit her. She slid to the ground and squeezed the dossier in her hands until her knuckles turned white while the regular metal thuds of crutches echoed in the hallway, getting more and more distant until they faded away

**Author's Note:**

> Let me first say that I know nothing about military and how things work in a war, so I kinda invented a bit with the help of our savior the great internet. I'm sorry if there's something inaccurate.  
> Thank you to @fightponey who proofread this and to @mychemicalclaudia for her priceless advice.


End file.
